Con Artists Prey on Elderly Homeowners

By KIT R. ROANE

Published: March 28, 1998

They are unsettling signs of spring: con artists claiming to be home improvement contractors, preying on unsuspecting homeowners, particularly the elderly.

The latest victim was Nicholas Visceglia, an 83-year-old retiree in Whitestone, Queens, who made the mistake of opening his door when four men began to unload ladders and canisters in his driveway Thursday afternoon, said Lieut. Robert Groth, of the Police Department's Special Frauds Unit.

As Mr. Visceglia recalled it, one of the men asked him the location of his fuse box, while another began roaming about the house examining his walls. When Mr. Visceglia questioned them, the men said he had a terrible roof leak. It was a serious problem -- even a fire hazard, they said -- but one that could be solved with a quick $9,000 repair.

''I came down to the fuse box and he said it was wet, though it was dry as a bone last night,'' Mr. Visceglia said. ''He said everything was going to blow up if I didn't fix it.'' The elderly man was then called upstairs by another member of the group and told to look at ''water dripping down my walls.''

About that time, police officers from the 109th Precinct arrived after a neighbor tipped them off about the suspicious people, Lieutenant Groth said. The police found the men carrying squirt bottles and peddling a dangerous mixture of silver paint and kerosene they said was a roof sealer.

The men -- Dan G. Parks, 70, his sons, Dan Parks, 50, Alex W. Parks, 45, and his grandson, Daniel Parks, 26 -- face charges of burglary and attempted grand larceny, according to a complaint filed by the Queens District Attorney's office.

The frequency of such scams has been on an upswing in New York City over the last two years, Lieutenant Groth said. In most cases, the scam artists drive around a neighborhood in a truck, telling residents that they have just completed a job down the street and have some extra material left over for additional work. Often, they burglarize the home while talking over the price, but other times they take money for materials that are never delivered.

The Parks family apparently focused on Mr. Visceglia because he had been the victim of another scam almost exactly a year ago: a group of men peddling a similar roof-repair scheme took Mr. Visceglia for $6,800 before skipping town, the police said.

''Well, I was almost nicked again, but that's it,'' Mr. Visceglia said yesterday. ''I've put a sign by the door saying 'no repairs.' I'll make my son do it from now on.''